Apple has come late to the 7in tablet market, but its new iPad Mini pips the competition. Powerful features and superior quality make it the one to be seen with

Apple has become the biggest company in the world by inventing products we
didn’t know we needed. The iPod, the iPhone and the iPad opened up new areas
of technology and left rivals flailing in Apple’s wake. But the ride
couldn’t continue for ever, which is why last week the company had to do
something it hasn’t done in years: play catch-up.

The iPad Mini is a 7.9in version of Apple’s market-leading full-size tablet,
and it’s here because smaller tablets from Google and Amazon have been
runaway successes (see panel). The late Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, had
described the idea of small tablets as “dead on arrival”, and half-jokingly
added that a smaller-screen iPad wouldn’t work because people would have to
file down their fingertips to use it. But The Sunday Times went hands-on
with the new gadget at its launch in San Jose, California, and we think it’s
eminently